A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)

“It was the least we could do, given everything that’s happened,” he replied softly.

“Yes… Well, in light of last night’s event, I understand that you will head back to the gorges this afternoon.” Rewa frowned, and Blaze nodded in response. “I suppose we’ll have to postpone our dinner, then, until you return safely from your mission.”

Even in mourning, Rewa was sweet on Blaze, judging by the faint smile on her face. Had she not just cremated her father, I would’ve been a lot more annoyed, but, given the circumstances, all I could do was stop myself from rolling my eyes. Blaze squeezed my hand again, a secret gesture under the table that made me feel better.

“Thank you for understanding, Rewa,” he replied.

My skin caught fire, not just from his touch but from the meaning of his gesture. Blaze knew how much I disliked Rewa’s advances, and he was quite adamant about making it clear to me that he had no interest in her whatsoever. It made me want to wrap my arms around him and never let him go, but we were still at a funeral luncheon, and Rewa was still standing there, her gaze filled with sadness and longing as she smiled at Blaze.

“Fiona, I understand that you will be staying in the city with the rest of the team,” Vincent said from where he stood next to her chair, his hands behind his back.

“That’s right, we have a lot of work to do in the city, too,” she replied with a nod.

“In that case, I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner tonight. You’ve been through enough already, and I’d like to do something to lighten things up a little…”

Fiona’s eyes grew wide, and she glanced around the table at us. She noticed my eyebrows rising with surprise, and she definitely registered Heron’s mischievous grin, along with the nudge he got from Avril.

“It would be my pleasure,” Fiona then replied, looking up at Vincent.

“Wonderful.” He beamed at her. “I shall see you here at eight tonight, then. Thank you for accepting my invitation.”

She gave him a soft smile, and he and Rewa excused themselves and returned to their table. Heron couldn’t hold back anymore, chuckling as he poured himself a cup of blood.

“Even with a dead Lord and his sister gone to live with a daemon, Vincent does not stop pursuing you, Fi,” Heron said. “The dude has the absolute hots for you!”

“I think it’s your mouth that’ll get you killed someday,” Avril shot back, slapping him over the shoulder. He kept laughing, though, enough to infect us all and put smiles on our faces—even Avril’s.

“Well, to be honest, I’m not interested in him, not like that, anyway,” Fiona replied, staring at the blood in her cup. “But I do feel sorry for him, especially after what happened with Sienna. It’s like… I just don’t want to let him down. He’s been through enough as it is.”

“That’s cute. He just said the same about you.” Hansa smirked. “Do as you please, Fiona, but just be careful and stay safe at all times.”

Fiona leaned into her chair and breathed out, her shoulders dropping slowly.

“I will. It’s just dinner,” she huffed.

I did understand where she was coming from. Based on what we’d seen so far, Vincent liked her a lot, but he was also a gentleman who tried to do right by everyone. He’d been in the gorges with us, he’d seen the dangers we faced, and he’d later seen the real damage that the daemons could do to his people, far beyond the abductions.

But he couldn’t deny the fact that he liked Fiona. It was so endearingly obvious by the way he longingly gazed at her whenever he was around. Even now, as he resumed his seat at the Lords’ table, Vincent glanced over his shoulder and across the hall, just to get a glimpse of Fiona.

Blaze’s hand was still clutching mine, I realized. I turned my head and found him quietly studying me. There was a look in his eyes that I couldn’t quite comprehend, but it made my spine tingle and my temperature rise by a few degrees.

We were going back to the Valley of Screams. And I was determined to make sure that we all came back in one piece and with crucial information about our enemies. I dreaded the thought of going underground after the daemons, but, at the same time, I found comfort in the fact that Blaze was coming with us.

You don’t bring a lighter into daemon city. You bring a dragon.





Avril





(Daughter of Lucas & Marion)





After the funeral luncheon, we gathered back outside the infirmary, which had basically become our little HQ. Harper, Jax, Hansa, Blaze, and Caia stopped by the Broken Bow Inn first, to gear up and pack some additional supplies.

Caspian soon joined us, his servants bringing down indigo horses. Jax then handed Patrik a small box with various objects belonging to the group.

“We estimate at least a day and a half for this, “Jax said. “To find a daemon and make our way into a daemon city. If we’re not back by midnight tomorrow, use the items in this box for a tracking spell to find us.”

“We’ll do that.” Patrik nodded firmly. “Scarlett and I will check the city’s library in full, top to bottom, to get as much information as possible on the asteroid belt.”

“And Fiona, Heron, and I will look for Cynara and her sister,” I said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to shed some light on the treatment of Imen in this city, at least until we see Arrah again and she gives us the whole scoop.”

“We’d also like your permission to use some of the invisibility spell ingredients for another prison inspection,” Heron added, looking at Jax. “I don’t think we’re done with that place just yet.”

Jax thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded.

“Do whatever you think will help this investigation, Heron,” he replied, “but make sure you prioritize. We’ll bring back some invisibility spell samples from the daemons, for Patrik to break down into ingredients, so we can replenish our own supply.”

“It dawned on me, by the way, why the daemons’ invisibility spell is different, in that you catch a glimpse of the air rippling and the red eyes… plus the water issue,” Patrik interjected, “and I’ve given it some thought. It makes sense. The original invisibility spell uses specific ingredients, some of which I don’t think exist on Neraka, though I’ll check their biology books, just in case. So, they must have found local ingredients to use, which change the behavior of the spell altogether.”

It sank in then. Patrik had a point. The daemons had taken a swamp witch spell and had adapted it to their environment. The same must have happened with the other charms in their possession.

“They’re devious bastards, aren’t they?” I frowned and shook my head slowly, my loathing of their entire species burning at the back of my throat.

“It makes sense,” Jax agreed. “Then we’ll definitely bring back samples.”